Game apparatus.



No. 689,873. Patented Dec. 3|, I90I. G. W. GRISWOLD.

GAME APPARATUS.

(Application mod Aug. 22, 1901.)

(lo Model.)

W'Hxgase Y IT! Iggegor by Z ya fforgzys mc amm PETER: oo., vnoruurnu. wAsnmu'rau, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.1

GEORGE WM. GRISWOLD, OF PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR ONE-'HALF TO FRANCIS A. VARE, OF SOMERVILLE, BOSTON, MASSA- CHUSETTS.

. GAME APPARATUS.

srncrrrcarron forming part of Letters' Patent No. 689,8?3, cated :December 31, 1901. Application iiled August 22, 1901. Serial No. 72,911. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE WM. GRIS- WOLD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plymouth, in thecounty of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have inventeda new and useful Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to agame apparatus; and the intent and purpose of the same is to provide a series of individually-'operative elevated devices which are automatically lowered by means of an impelled ball or the like striking and tripping a portion of the mech.- anism of each device, the said devices being conjunctively employed with a normally lowered device which is likewise automatically elevated and designed to be the climax of the game and permitted to be operated afterthe series of secondary devices have been lowered, the several devices being in the form of iiags of different nations or other selected objects.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the several parts, which will be more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved apparatus arranged for operation. p tion on the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of a portion of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is a detail View of a mallet and ball used in operating the apparatus or playing the game.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

The numeral 1 designatesa table or bed having opposite end supports 2 and 3, each supplied with a pair of brace-legs 4 for securing the apparatus in stable position, the said brace-legs being detachable, so that the improved device can be stored in better form and without the interfering projections that would be present if the said legs were xed to the supports. The supports are also connected by side rails 5 and secured to the under side of the table or bed, and the said rails are a series of weight-boxes 6, which are fully 5o open at the front and lower ends, and leading through the table or bed are openings 7,

Fig. 2 is a transversevertical secone communicating with each box.

ing 7 is a staff 8, having a suitable peak o'rnamentation, and below the latter is a hori- Rising from the table or bed adjacent to each openzontally-disposed'shcave-plate 9 or analogous device, through which a halyard 10 has loose sliding movement. One portion of the hal- 'yard is attached to a slide-ring 11 or the like,

engaging the staff,and thereto is also attached a counterpoise-weight 12. The other portion 'of the halyard freely moves through the open- Ving '7 and is secured to the upper end of an op- 'member,16, the latter being pivoted in the front portion of the box and provided with a depending rigid trip-rod 17, with a ball 18 on the lower end thereoflocated close to the surface on which the apparatus is placed. Secured to the halyards inthe present instance are iiags'19, each iiag being that of a diiferent' nation. Six of these flags are shown, and the number may be increased or-decreased, and in place .of the iags other objects or devices may be substituted. These iiags of different nations, together with the mechanism foroperating the same, form the secondary feature of the apparatus or game, and it is intended that the player shall operate the mechanism ofeach flag to lower all the flags in sequence or according to some other predetermined rule of playing before being permitted to operate the primary mechanism, which will include the climax feature of the game. This primary mechanism consists of ay staff 20, yrising from the table or bed directly over the support 3 and having a greater elevation than the several staffs S, which are of equal height. The sta 2O is also provided with an ornamentalpeak and a sheave-plate 21 below said peak, through which a halyard 22 has loose'mov'ement. The opposite portions of the said halyard extend downwardly through openings 23 inthe table or bed on opposite sides of the staff-base and into the support 3, which is hollow, as clearly shown by Fig. 3. One portion of the halyard 22 is connected to a Weight 24, located and freely movable in the support, and the other IOO portion of said halyard is attached to a tripblock 25, also freely movable in the said support. The trip-block 25 has a notch or recess in the lower portion of the inner side thereof, as at 26, the said notch or recess being adapted to coincide with a slot 27 in the lower portion of the inner side of the support 3, and above the plane of and close to the said slot a bracket 28 is secured to the inner side of the support and has a trip-bar 29 pivoted thereto to move in a horizontal plane. The inner extremity of the trip-bar projects inwardly beyond the inner terminal of the bracket and has a depending ball or spherical projection 30, rigidly fixed thereto, and the outer extremity of said bar freely moves in a horizontal plane in the slot 27 when operated to throw the same, the outer end of the said bar extending into the support 3 for engagement with the notch or recess 26 in the trip-block. The ball or spherical projection 30 is in longitudinal alinement with the balls 18 of the secondary devices and also in the same plane as said balls 18. The halyard 22 carries in the present instance the United States Hag, but may be replaced by another device or object, the said latter flag remaining lowered, as shown, until all the secondary iiags have been lowered, when it will be the privilege of the player to release the United States flag and permit it to be automatically hoisted or elevated as a signal or indication kof supremacy. In setting the primary mechanism the trip-block 25 is lowered to such an extent that the outer end of the trip-bar will engage the notch or recess 2G to thereby hold the Weight 2i elevated, the release of the trip-block permitting the weight to lower and elevate the flag. To render the operation of the trip-block reliable, it is proposed to have it move in a guide-inclosure 31 to facilitate the engagement of the notch or recess 26 thereof by the trip-bar.

In playing the game one or more mallets and balls (shown by Fig. il) will be used by preference; but hand-impelled balls maf,7 be employed, it desired, and operated similarly to bowling balls. A number of dierent modes of playing the game can be devised, and it will be understood that when the secondary devices are set the weights 13 will be held by the trip members 16 until the balls 1S on the trip-rods 17 are struck to release said trip members. As soon as each trip member is released the weight 18 descends and lowers the halyard connected thereto and the device on said halyard, the counterpoiseweight 12 being moved upwardly. The function of the counterpoiseweights 12 is to keep the halyards 10 in taut condition and the devices carried thereby in elevated position.

The improved apparatus can be varied in many ways without departing from the principle involved and will provide a pleasing source of amusement and pastime, as well as train the eye in accuracy as to distance and the character of the shot to be made to eiect an operation of the several mechanisms. The apparatus may also be varied in size, proportions, and the minor details of construction without in the least departing from the in vention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- 1. In agame apparatus, the combination of a bed, a series of staffs rising therefrom, weighted halyards carrying devices and cooperating with said staiis, and trip mechanism mounted to have a swinging movement and provided with depending portions adapted to be struck by movable playing-pieces to release a portion of the weights of the halyards.

2. Ina game apparatus, a series of staffs having sheave-plates, halyards engaging said plates and having a counterpoise-weight attached to one end and an operating-weight attached to the other end of each, and trip members to en gage and hold the operating-weights elevated and provided with depending portions adapted to be struck by impelled balls to release the said members.

3. In a game apparatus, the combination of a bed, a staff, a halyard movably engaging the staii, a device carried by said halyard, a hollow support under the bed into which the extremities of the halyard movably extend, a weight secured to one end of the halyard, a notched trip-block secured to the other end of the halyard, and a horizontallymovable trip-bar to engage said trip-block and having a depending device adapted to be struck by a playing-piece to release the halyard and permit the device on the latter to be automatically raised.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own l have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEO. WM. GRISVVOLD.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. BARNES, WILLIAM W. BREwsTER.

IOO

l IOS 

